Analysis: BYU takes ‘survive and advance’ to a whole different level in wire-to-wire win over Wisconsin

DENVER — The Mile High City was once again magical for the Sweet 16-bound BYU Cougars, but only by a hair this time.

Floppy-haired BYU guard Richie Saunders, doing his best Jimmer Fredette impression, scored 25 points and the Cougars were almost perfect from the free-throw line, going 15 of 16 from the stripe, as the No. 6 seed outlasted No. 3 seed Wisconsin’s ferocious last-minute comeback to take a 91-89 win in an NCAA Tournament Round of 32 game Saturday night at Ball Arena.

“This was super remarkable and just something I will remember forever,” said guard Trevin Knell, who was 4 of 6 from the 3-point line, for 14 points.

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So will Cougar Nation.

The ending was right out of a Hollywood script, unlike 14 years ago when BYU blitzed Gonzaga 89-67 to reach the Sweet 16 on the very same court, with Fredette pouring in 34 points in that laugher.

For all those last-minute twists and turns that had nearly the entire nation watching on CBS, college basketball junkies can thank Wisconsin’s John Tonje, who scored 37 points, was 14 of 16 from the free-throw line and almost singlehandedly brought the Badgers (27-10) back from an 11-point deficit with two minutes, 34 seconds remaining.

At the end of the offensive masterpiece, however, it was a clutch stop by BYU defensive specialist Mawot Mag on Tonje that proved to be the winning play.

Tonje’s jumper with a second remaining that would have sent the game into overtime didn’t come close and the Cougars began celebrating the historic win.

“He had a phenomenal game. He had a lot of points. I just tried to make it as difficult as possible. I knew he was going to catch the ball with a full head of steam. I didn’t want to foul him, because they were in the double bonus,” Mag said.

“I just picked him up at the 3-point line and made him take a contested shot without fouling. … He is a first team All-American for a reason. He gets calls like that. I just wanted to make it as difficult as possible, and thank God I stayed down and didn’t give (officials) the chance (to call a foul).”

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Still, the Cougars (26-9) were called for 22 fouls — Wisconsin was only whistled for 15 fouls, despite the fact that BYU had 10 more points in the paint, 38-28 — including a flagrant 2 foul on Dawson Baker with 3:11 left that changed the course of the contest immensely.

Baker, who had eight points, was ejected and Tonje made two free throws to cut BYU’s lead to 86-78. After the game, the NCAA sent an email to the Associated Press pool reporter noting that Baker will not have to sit out next Thursday’s game in Newark, New Jersey against the winner of Sunday’s Alabama-St. Mary’s game.

Baker said he didn’t know what he did to warrant the ejection until a referee told a BYU assistant coach that Baker contacted a Wisconsin player in the groin area.

“Relative to Dawson, I am going to need a pretty in-depth explanation on that one, so I can’t comment on that,” Cougars head coach Kevin Young said.

What Young, in his first year at BYU, did want to talk about was how this squad that was picked to finish ninth in the Big 12 again pulled out a squeaker, just as it did at nationally ranked Iowa State and Arizona.

“Man, what an unbelievable basketball game,” he said. “Two hungry teams. Obviously there was a decent amount of talk about how prolific both of our offenses were, and that second half that was on full display for both teams.

“Just super proud of our guys’ resiliency. We just found a way.”

Like he did against Iowa State (twice) and Arizona, Young said he looked his guys in the eyes when everything was falling apart down the stretch and told them they had done it before and could do it again.

Having watched Wisconsin go on a 13-5 run after Baker’s ejection, including Tonje’s 3-point play on a phantom foul with a minute remaining, the Cougars had the ball out of a timeout with 39 seconds left.

However, Dallin Hall’s driving layup was way off line with 13.1 seconds left, and Wisconsin had one last chance.

“We felt like we couldn’t stop them at all in the second half, and in that last timeout, man, we just looked each other in the eye and said all we’ve got to do is get one stop, that’s it,” Young said.

“Good discipline (by Mag). … All these guys made huge plays. It was just really fun for me and for our group.”

It was everything you’d want in a Round of 32 game in the Big Dance — controversial calls, huge runs, big shots, timely blocks — including a massive rejection by Keba Keita just before the flagrant 2 call on Baker, which occurred as BYU was trying to call a timeout.

“Words can’t really describe it,” said Saunders, a junior who made two clutch free throws with 1:25 remaining that turned out to be BYU’s final two points.

“My freshman year, we took some bad losses, and it is crazy just to think about how we’ve stuck together as a team and chose to keep moving forward.”

As Young said, there were heroes all around.

Freshman point guard Egor Demin stacked another good game, flirting with a triple double after scoring 15 points in the 80-71 win over VCU on Thursday.

Saturday, Demin had 11 points, eight rebounds and eight assists and played like an NBA lottery pick. His only turnover, in 27 minutes, came out of a timeout with 1:12 left when he had a miscommunication on an inbounds pass.

That was part of the chaotic ending in which it appeared the Cougs were wilting, but they pulled it out.

“Wisconsin is a high-caliber offensive team. We knew they (wouldn’t quit),” Knell said, “ut something that coach Young said, he brought us all in the huddle, looked us all in the eye and said, ‘We went through this at Arizona, we went through this at Iowa State. I believe in this. I believe in you guys, and let’s go out there and get a stop.’”

Keita was a monster inside, with 10 points, six rebounds and 2 of 3 free-throw shooting when the Badgers were deliberately trying to foul him.

Saunders got to the 25 points in 30 minutes on 9 of 16 shooting.

“That was one heckuva hard game,” Saunders said. “It is really, really, really hard to win college basketball games.”

Especially Round of 32 games against single-digit seeds. It was BYU’s first tournament win over a single digit seed since the No. 10 seeded Cougars and Shawn Bradley upset No. 7-seeded Virginia 61-48 in 1991.

For Mag, who had seven points and also picked up a ridiculous technical foul for pointing at a replay on the big screen, it is an opportunity to return to New Jersey — where he played three seasons for Rutgers.

More importantly, his girlfriend still lives there.

“It’s going to be sweet,” he said. “Not many people have made it to the Sweet 16. To be a part of history — it has been a long time since BYU made it — makes it that more special. We gotta embrace it for a day, then move on to the next game.”

The Cougars improved to 21-1 when they score 80 points or more, and they eclipsed that mark with 6:21 remaining when Keita made a 3-point play. Fouss Traore added six points on 3 of 4 shooting, while playing only 16 minutes.

“We knew Wisconsin was a very good team, but we also knew we weren’t going to be denied,” Traore said, “and we aren’t done yet.”

While some of the national narrative may focus on how BYU almost blew an 11-point lead in the final two minutes, the reality is that the Cougars deserved to win this game.

They outshot the Badgers (49% to 43%) from the field, made the same number of 3-pointers — 12 — and got 24 points from one of the deepest benches in the country. Wisconsin’s bench scored just three points.

BYU made five more field goals; Wisconsin made eight more free throws.

“It took us awhile to get our feet defensively,” said Wisconsin coach Greg Gard. “… Probably the offensive display that everyone expected having two really, really good offensive teams.

“Unfortunately we weren’t able to get traction a little bit earlier defensively, and then obviously we don’t have a ball go in there at the end.”

Another of BYU’s unsung heroes was Trey Stewart, who scored five of his seven points back-to-back with two free throws and a 3-pointer after Wisconsin had trimmed a 12-point BYU lead to four.

“Special man, special,” Stewart said of the win. “It is one of those things you can look back on the rest of your life. I just have so much gratitude in my heart.”